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Ex-Union Official Says Foes' Fraud Prompted Ballot Fixing

A former top official of the city's largest municipal union has told investigators that he and other union executives tampered with the 1996 ratification vote on the city labor contract because they thought opponents of the pact were also committing fraud, say lawyers and officials who have been briefed on the investigation being conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

Martin Lubin, who resigned as the associate director of District Council 37 last month after admitting that he knew about the tampering, told investigators how union officials stuffed ballot boxes with thousands of fraudulent votes after early returns convinced them the contract would be rejected by city workers, the officials said.

The five-year contract, which included an unpopular wage freeze in the first two years, was ultimately approved in February 1996, although opponents immediately denounced the balloting as rigged. People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors have not found evidence of vote-tampering by opponents of the contract, as Mr. Lubin alleged.

Mr. Lubin, who had been second in command at the council, is one of the highest-ranking officials to be interviewed by investigators directing the inquiry into embezzlement and kickbacks in the 120,000-member union. He is the third union official to tell investigators about ballot tampering on the contract, which set the pattern for ensuing settlements with other city unions. Those unions, angered by the revelations of fraud, have demanded that the Mayor renegotiate their contracts, without success.

The council's executive director, Stanley Hill, was forced to take an unpaid leave of absence a week ago after the fraud was revealed. The council is now being run by a representative of the parent union. Mr. Lubin told investigators that Mr. Hill never knew about the vote fraud scheme, the officials said.

Witnesses have told investigators that most of the fraudulent ballots were cast in a local representing clerical workers, where the official tally showed 10,002 votes for ratification and 2,265 against. The huge margin in that local cemented ratification of the contract, which was approved 19,513 to 14,438.

The lawyers and officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said prosecutors were told by witnesses that Mr. Lubin and others initially became concerned the ratification vote would fail after steaming open several hundred completed mail ballots from several locals and finding that most members were voting against the contract. In response, the union leaders began a large-scale effort to submit fraudulent ballots in the clerical workers union, some in the names of workers who had not voted.

Mr. Lubin told investigators that allies of Mr. Hill were particularly concerned when, during the weeks of balloting, the hospital workers union reported a huge vote against the contract, 4,402 to 34, officials said. They said allies of Mr. Hill believed that tally may have been rigged, and they decided to cast fraudulent ballots of their own.

James Butler, the leader of the hospital workers local, denied any irregularities in the voting by his members. ''I had no reason to fix anything,'' he said. ''My members were mad as hell. They didn't have job security and they were on fire.''

A week ago, after Mr. Lubin and his assistant, Mark Shaplo, admitted knowing of the vote fraud, District Council 37's parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, took control of the council, forcing Mr. Hill to step aside.

A few days later, Mr. Lubin's lawyer, Pamela Hayes, a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, accompanied her client to his meeting with investigators. Ms. Hayes would not comment on whether her client had been interviewed. ''I can't tell you if he said anything, for obvious reasons,'' she said.

Ms. Hayes said that Mr. Lubin, 57, was upset that he had had to resign his union post.

''It's just unfortunate,'' she said, ''because aside from this particular instance, he has not been involved in any kickbacks or anything like that. He's a decent guy.''

Associates of Mr. Lubin said they thought he acted out of concern for Mr. Hill, since rejection of the pact would have been a personal embarrassment and a setback in his relationship with Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. They called Mr. Lubin's role in the fraud limited, and said he had been asked by others to go to the district council's offices on a Saturday, when he marked some ballots.

Mr. Lubin has not been charged with any crime. Tampering with ballots could result in charges of falsifying business records.

Mark Rosenthal, president of the motor vehicle operators local and a harsh critic of the union leadership, said that in recent days officials of other locals have agreed to talk to investigators. ''I am told that there are a lot of people coming in now,'' he said.

Daniel Castleman, chief of investigations for the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, declined to comment. ''Lots of rumors are flying around, and people would be well advised not to believe all of what they are hearing,'' he said.

The disputed vote on the contract took two months to complete, as each of the 56 locals that make up the district council polled their members, some by hand votes and some by paper ballots. All of the ballots, which have since been destroyed, were mailed or delivered to the district council's headquarters on Barclay Street in lower Manhattan.

Witnesses have told prosecutors that most of the ballot tampering occurred in the fifth-floor offices of the highway workers union, Local 376, usually at night or on weekends, the lawyers and officials said. The president of that local, Joseph DeCanio, has also told prosecutors about the vote tampering, according to lawyers familiar with the investigation.

In submitting the bogus ballots, the union officials used blanks that had been printed in the district council's print shop for that purpose, several witnesses have told investigators.

Mr. DeCanio, who pleaded guilty last month to charges of embezzling $50,000 in the sale of turkeys to other locals, is cooperating with prosecutors, according to lawyers familiar with the investigation. Union officials have said that Mr. Shaplo has refused requests from prosecutors for interviews.